The Silent Doorman: Why Your Luxury Hotel's Sign Matters
- Christos Joannides
- Mar 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 17
If you are anything like me, you love hotel signs. The good ones merit a photo. The great ones become iconic and plastered all over Instagram. How many times have we taken a photo of a hotel sign or in front of it because we liked the sign or wanted to show we have been there? I would argue 90% of the time. If you are young and aspirational you will probably take that extra drive to that ritzy hotel just to take a photo. How does a sign become memorable? Well the obvious answer is heritage and history. But how does it become iconic? When it is paired with design and execution. Think of the most famous hotels you know. They all have iconic signs. The personality of the sign itself, the design, the layout the typography - it all matters. The ones that have invested in proper signage reap the benefits of the "silent doorman" and with today's social media become viral photo ops.
So it's amazing to me in today's day and age, how some luxury hotels don't recognize the importance of a beautifully designed sign and instead seek cheaper alternatives or poorly designed executions.
Let me share a story about a hotel I drive past every day, a clear case of missed opportunity in the signage department. The hotel I speak of went through a multi million dollar renovation and every day I have been observing the progress throughout its construction phase.
The temporary vinyl fence banners looked really good. A collage of beautiful imagery adorned each one - detailed shots of the Pacific, gorgeous close up photography of white tablecloths and sumptuous croissants and steaming coffee. The overall branding reflected an elegant and refined look for the hotel. As a graphic designer who appreciates gorgeous signs, and especially hotel signs I was eagerly anticipating to see what they would do with their exterior signage. I was sure it would be something elegant, something that would be inspirational to design geeks like myself.
The day finally came. The banners came down and the hotel was ready for the installation of the sign. I was anticipating every day to see what they would do. I was expecting to see one of the familiar high end sign installation companies here in Los Angeles pulling up a couple of trucks with cherry pickers to install a gorgeous sign that would add figuratively that cherry on top.
The new sign was finally revealed. What emerged was a shockingly underwhelming sign, so clearly temporary in its appearance that I assumed a replacement was surely on its way.
It's been over 6 months now and no new sign has replaced the current one. As a branding designer, the first thing I look at is placement and scale. In this case it does not take an expert to look at this and say something isn't right. It's not vertically center aligned and the logotype seems to be too big. The only thing I can think of, is perhaps they were intending to add the descriptor (see logo below) and they simply have not gotten around to doing it. (Which I wonder which is worse)
But seeing the spacing and overall sizing, it still does not make sense. Still not enough space below to accommodate for "SANTA MONICA BEACH". And another thing - by placing it predictably slab center does not convey any originality or that "luxe vibe". The one thing going for it, is that it has a matte brush gold which I do love. I would go a little more shiny.
So I took the initiative to give a solution of what I would do,
I would specify perhaps matte or brushed gold, back-lit dimensional letters placed on the entrance side of the driveway as seen in my mock up below.
Perhaps something similar is in the works that I may not be aware of.
I certainly hope something, anything will change.
Will it ever achieve Beverly Hills Hotel sign status?
Only time will tell.
